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Thread: Casino House Edge

  1. #1


    1 out of 1 members found this post helpful. Did you find this post helpful? Yes | No

    Casino House Edge

    Hi everyone,

    This is my first time posting so hopefully this is a good question to ask. My question is for games that are 6 decks and 8 decks ONLY, S17 and H17.

    From my research (correct me if I'm wrong) the best condition you could get and ask for in 2020 would be:
    S17, DAS, DA, RSA, SR, Payout 3:2, no CSM, and obviously good penetration (the deeper the better..that's what she said lol). But since penetration varies from dealer to dealer, let's put penetration off to the side for now. So with the rules I just mentioned, the House Edge is = 0.28507%.

    I did not calculate this myself, this was found on a website. It could be wrong so that's why I am asking you guys is this correct?

    But that is just one part of my question. The other part of the question to this is, what is the House Edge when these rules are offered/not offered?

    This is what I got from my research (There were many answers on the web so this also could be incorrect):


    From 6D to 8D the increase of the house edge is +0.02%
    A game that offers H17 for the house is a +0.2%
    Having SR for 6D is -0.073%, and 8D -0.076% for the house
    RSA allowed: -0.069%
    DAS allowed: -0.14%
    DOnly on 10 & 11: +0.17%
    And if I'm missing any more rules, please mention them with %.


    It maybe a pain in the butt to find the answers to this. As I do know there are Blackjack condition calculators out there. But they all give different answers and I don't know which one is most accurate and trustworthy. If someone could refer and provide an accurate and trustworthy website, that would also be great.


    Sorry for this long post of a question but this ties to the final part of my question.
    With so many rules and conditions in the game of Blackjack, there are many mix of rules offered and not offered.

    1) So what rules is a MUST HAVE in order to play and is a WINNABLE game? What to look for?

    2) Obviously we want all the rules to be offered that benefits us the players but sometimes we can't get those games due to where we are in the world. So in terms of house edge %, once calculated, in the worst condition, how high of a house edge % could we afford to give the casino in order for us to still play a beatable game? And what are those rules?



    ########********########******** Not part of the question. You don't need to read this part.

    Down below is just a background info about who I am. I apologize if this section should of been in a different thread. (I could start a new post if anyone is remotely even interested in what I'm about to say or to have a more in-depth conversation about ones lives in terms of card counting)


    I really appreciate the effort of anyone attempting to answer my questions. I tried doing this myself but to be honest, I'm still pretty much a rookie. I've been practicing since December 2019 - August 2020. About 4-6 hours a day, 6-7 days a week consistently. When I say practice, I meant, learning Basic Strategy. Flipping the cards over as fast as I can, counting down 1 deck in 18 seconds, 2 decks in 38 seconds, and 6 decks in ~2 minutes and 12 seconds. Deck estimations, playing deviations (I18+F4), bet deviations/spreads 1-12, 1-16, 1-20, 1-25 (I bought CVCX). Yes I was and am still determined to learn and perform. I watched and re-watched close to a thousand hours of short videos of anything to do with card counting. (Also movies and documentaries lol but that's not included in the hours). Anything and everything I could think of or wondering about Blackjack, I searched online intensively for it. I've read 9 different Blackjack books. To learn how to count cards, to have insight of what it's like living this profession, and the stories of some's success and downfalls. The books I have read; Blackjack Play Like the Pros, Blackjack Life, The Blackjack Insider, The 21st Century Card Counter, Repeat Until Rich, Million Dollar Blackjack, Beat the Dealer, Blackjack Attack iii, and Burning the Tables in Las Vegas. I am not trying to brag or show off. I am mentioning this because I've read some AP's saying you should or need a support system. Either with a person to call/talk to or a forum. And with this post, you can say I'm opening up a bit and would like to join a Blackjack community. With more than 9 months since the start of me leaning card counting, I have told no one of what I have been doing. Nobody knows. I am very strong mentally and emotionally. I could keep a lot of things inside me and carry it with me for a long time without revealing it. (not in a psycho/mental way lol) And I think that is a big advantage when it comes to card counting and the swings of ups and downs it comes with emotionally and financially. To be honest, people will judge and will put you down before you could even start anything, and I didn't want that. Nobody wants that. This is why I like this forum because we are anonymous and this is a Blackjack card counting community. So we have something in common and we can relate to one another. I don't plan on telling anyone about this in real life so this forum will definitely help me express some of my thoughts. Just having someone to communicate with about Blackjack is a good sense of relief for me. And I am appreciative to have a forum like this.

    A little more about me is I am in my early 30s. I live in North America. My parents were immigrants and came here in the 80s. I grew up poor. To give perspective, in government housing - the projects. I am not someone who is a genius that went to Harvard. Matter of fact, I've been failing every single grade all the way up to the 12th grade. My grades were between F and C. Did I try in school? I would say no, but I have to admit that I did try very hard to NOT fail and to just pass so I wouldn't fall behind. But I sometimes still do fail. Overall it took me an extra year to finish high school and I did go to a community college (I failed miserably and wasted a lot of money and time). I took general business in college because I had no clue what I wanted to do and I didn't want to be a disappointment to my parents. The point I'm trying to make is, I was dealt not the best hand, and at the same time I'm not that smart. (I'm not an idiot either lol) But I found something I am very interested in and for the first time I put full effort into something. I practice for 4 months intensively and I thought I was ready. But then covid-19 happened and things got shut down. I was not able to visit a casino to test out my skills. This was back in March/April. So I continued practicing, same amount of hours 4-6, for 6-7 days a week religiously. Til this day, all casinos around me within' a 5 hour driving radius is still closed. Only 1 casino is close to me that is open and is 5 hours away. The second closest is 7 hours. And the third one is 10 hours. Where I live and finding a casino sucks. I was tired of waiting, who knows when things will reopen. All my hard effort of training may not be put to use because of this pandemic. I was and still am fed up of waiting. I decided to take a road trip to the closest casino I know that is open last month in August.

    I played 10 hours straight on the first day. If I had to evaluate my performance honestly, I would say my head was energize, calm, and clear for all 10 hours. And played correctly and perfectly like a robot. I showed some of my emotions due to bad beats but never did I altered my game play. I always stuck to the game plan and game play. My bet spread is $20-300, this is the lowest limit at this casino. And if players are at my table and the shoe is 0- TC, I would sit out. But I ended up losing $4,000 on the first day. I walked out of there saying that was just round 1. I'll see you tomorrow for round 2. Second day I played 9 hours. I won most of my losses back from the day before. $3925. I am still down $75 but it was a good day otherwise. Round 3, I played 8 hours and walked away with $800. Overall a successful trip.

    I drove back to that casino a week later. The fist day i played 9 hours. I had so many shoes with high TC that day but it wasn't my turn to win unfortunately. Shoe after shoe with delicious TC but it was the casino's meal, not mine. Devastated, I lost $6,000. The risk or ruin is high due to a small bankroll. I already knew this, but this is all I could afford to put together. Maybe I was impatient for not waiting for other casinos to reopen to find a lower table limit. But I knew all the casinos around where I lived. The lowest limit at the tables at any given hour was $15, so it wasn't that big of a difference. In my mind I knew that this could happen. These swings could go up or down. Nothing is guaranteed. With my bankroll size after this, I don't know if I can withstand it long enough to see the positive outcome. I was still mentally/emotionally strong after this beat. But my heart was crushed. Second day of the trip I played 8 hours. It was a great day indeed. I won back my $6000 and also $1800 profit on top of that. Nobody saw the smile on my face during that stretch. Not because I was holding it in. It was because of the mask we had to wear during this covid-pandemic time. I felt rejuvenated. I thought It was going to be awhile to get a smile, yet alone maybe smile never again lol.

    Anyways, I had a question at the very beginning of this post and now I have rambled into a long story. I apologize if writing all this is frowned upon. I will not do this again. I just have no one to tell or talk to about this and this has helped me take some weights off my shoulders. I hope I can make some friends from this. I appreciate your time and feedback. See you in another post!

  2. #2


    Did you find this post helpful? Yes | No
    Quote Originally Posted by Ultramood View Post
    Hi everyone,

    This is my first time posting so hopefully this is a good question to ask. My question is for games that are 6 decks and 8 decks ONLY, S17 and H17.

    From my research (correct me if I'm wrong) the best condition you could get and ask for in 2020 would be:
    S17, DAS, DA, RSA, SR, Payout 3:2, no CSM, and obviously good penetration (the deeper the better..that's what she said lol). But since penetration varies from dealer to dealer, let's put penetration off to the side for now. So with the rules I just mentioned, the House Edge is = 0.28507%.

    I did not calculate this myself, this was found on a website. It could be wrong so that's why I am asking you guys is this correct?

    But that is just one part of my question. The other part of the question to this is, what is the House Edge when these rules are offered/not offered?

    This is what I got from my research (There were many answers on the web so this also could be incorrect):


    From 6D to 8D the increase of the house edge is +0.02%
    A game that offers H17 for the house is a +0.2%
    Having SR for 6D is -0.073%, and 8D -0.076% for the house
    RSA allowed: -0.069%
    DAS allowed: -0.14%
    DOnly on 10 & 11: +0.17%
    And if I'm missing any more rules, please mention them with %.


    It maybe a pain in the butt to find the answers to this. As I do know there are Blackjack condition calculators out there. But they all give different answers and I don't know which one is most accurate and trustworthy. If someone could refer and provide an accurate and trustworthy website, that would also be great.


    Sorry for this long post of a question but this ties to the final part of my question.
    With so many rules and conditions in the game of Blackjack, there are many mix of rules offered and not offered.

    1) So what rules is a MUST HAVE in order to play and is a WINNABLE game? What to look for?

    2) Obviously we want all the rules to be offered that benefits us the players but sometimes we can't get those games due to where we are in the world. So in terms of house edge %, once calculated, in the worst condition, how high of a house edge % could we afford to give the casino in order for us to still play a beatable game? And what are those rules?



    ########********########******** Not part of the question. You don't need to read this part.

    Down below is just a background info about who I am. I apologize if this section should of been in a different thread. (I could start a new post if anyone is remotely even interested in what I'm about to say or to have a more in-depth conversation about ones lives in terms of card counting)


    I really appreciate the effort of anyone attempting to answer my questions. I tried doing this myself but to be honest, I'm still pretty much a rookie. I've been practicing since December 2019 - August 2020. About 4-6 hours a day, 6-7 days a week consistently. When I say practice, I meant, learning Basic Strategy. Flipping the cards over as fast as I can, counting down 1 deck in 18 seconds, 2 decks in 38 seconds, and 6 decks in ~2 minutes and 12 seconds. Deck estimations, playing deviations (I18+F4), bet deviations/spreads 1-12, 1-16, 1-20, 1-25 (I bought CVCX). Yes I was and am still determined to learn and perform. I watched and re-watched close to a thousand hours of short videos of anything to do with card counting. (Also movies and documentaries lol but that's not included in the hours). Anything and everything I could think of or wondering about Blackjack, I searched online intensively for it. I've read 9 different Blackjack books. To learn how to count cards, to have insight of what it's like living this profession, and the stories of some's success and downfalls. The books I have read; Blackjack Play Like the Pros, Blackjack Life, The Blackjack Insider, The 21st Century Card Counter, Repeat Until Rich, Million Dollar Blackjack, Beat the Dealer, Blackjack Attack iii, and Burning the Tables in Las Vegas. I am not trying to brag or show off. I am mentioning this because I've read some AP's saying you should or need a support system. Either with a person to call/talk to or a forum. And with this post, you can say I'm opening up a bit and would like to join a Blackjack community. With more than 9 months since the start of me leaning card counting, I have told no one of what I have been doing. Nobody knows. I am very strong mentally and emotionally. I could keep a lot of things inside me and carry it with me for a long time without revealing it. (not in a psycho/mental way lol) And I think that is a big advantage when it comes to card counting and the swings of ups and downs it comes with emotionally and financially. To be honest, people will judge and will put you down before you could even start anything, and I didn't want that. Nobody wants that. This is why I like this forum because we are anonymous and this is a Blackjack card counting community. So we have something in common and we can relate to one another. I don't plan on telling anyone about this in real life so this forum will definitely help me express some of my thoughts. Just having someone to communicate with about Blackjack is a good sense of relief for me. And I am appreciative to have a forum like this.

    A little more about me is I am in my early 30s. I live in North America. My parents were immigrants and came here in the 80s. I grew up poor. To give perspective, in government housing - the projects. I am not someone who is a genius that went to Harvard. Matter of fact, I've been failing every single grade all the way up to the 12th grade. My grades were between F and C. Did I try in school? I would say no, but I have to admit that I did try very hard to NOT fail and to just pass so I wouldn't fall behind. But I sometimes still do fail. Overall it took me an extra year to finish high school and I did go to a community college (I failed miserably and wasted a lot of money and time). I took general business in college because I had no clue what I wanted to do and I didn't want to be a disappointment to my parents. The point I'm trying to make is, I was dealt not the best hand, and at the same time I'm not that smart. (I'm not an idiot either lol) But I found something I am very interested in and for the first time I put full effort into something. I practice for 4 months intensively and I thought I was ready. But then covid-19 happened and things got shut down. I was not able to visit a casino to test out my skills. This was back in March/April. So I continued practicing, same amount of hours 4-6, for 6-7 days a week religiously. Til this day, all casinos around me within' a 5 hour driving radius is still closed. Only 1 casino is close to me that is open and is 5 hours away. The second closest is 7 hours. And the third one is 10 hours. Where I live and finding a casino sucks. I was tired of waiting, who knows when things will reopen. All my hard effort of training may not be put to use because of this pandemic. I was and still am fed up of waiting. I decided to take a road trip to the closest casino I know that is open last month in August.

    I played 10 hours straight on the first day. If I had to evaluate my performance honestly, I would say my head was energize, calm, and clear for all 10 hours. And played correctly and perfectly like a robot. I showed some of my emotions due to bad beats but never did I altered my game play. I always stuck to the game plan and game play. My bet spread is $20-300, this is the lowest limit at this casino. And if players are at my table and the shoe is 0- TC, I would sit out. But I ended up losing $4,000 on the first day. I walked out of there saying that was just round 1. I'll see you tomorrow for round 2. Second day I played 9 hours. I won most of my losses back from the day before. $3925. I am still down $75 but it was a good day otherwise. Round 3, I played 8 hours and walked away with $800. Overall a successful trip.

    I drove back to that casino a week later. The fist day i played 9 hours. I had so many shoes with high TC that day but it wasn't my turn to win unfortunately. Shoe after shoe with delicious TC but it was the casino's meal, not mine. Devastated, I lost $6,000. The risk or ruin is high due to a small bankroll. I already knew this, but this is all I could afford to put together. Maybe I was impatient for not waiting for other casinos to reopen to find a lower table limit. But I knew all the casinos around where I lived. The lowest limit at the tables at any given hour was $15, so it wasn't that big of a difference. In my mind I knew that this could happen. These swings could go up or down. Nothing is guaranteed. With my bankroll size after this, I don't know if I can withstand it long enough to see the positive outcome. I was still mentally/emotionally strong after this beat. But my heart was crushed. Second day of the trip I played 8 hours. It was a great day indeed. I won back my $6000 and also $1800 profit on top of that. Nobody saw the smile on my face during that stretch. Not because I was holding it in. It was because of the mask we had to wear during this covid-pandemic time. I felt rejuvenated. I thought It was going to be awhile to get a smile, yet alone maybe smile never again lol.

    Anyway, I had a question at the very beginning of this post and now I have rambled into a long story. I apologize if writing all this is frowned upon. I will not do this again. I just have no one to tell or talk to about this and this has helped me take some weights off my shoulders. I hope I can make some friends from this. I appreciate your time and feedback. See you in another post!
    i would say keep learning and don't put your bankroll at risk with Bj only especially if you are under funded and the cost of travelling would not give a a decent shot at winning. i would say overall you got lucky and didn't get crush . You definitely should keep learning more before any play.

  3. #3


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    you need to learn how "wonging" can improve your game and you really need a good plan that puts expenses and the number of games available and hours that can be played into consideration.

  4. #4


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    'Standardized Comparison Of Risk and Expectation' is what you are looking for, or 'SCORE' for short.

    This is covered in chapter 9 of Blackjack Attack 3 by Don Schlesinger (who posts here regularly, in fact).

    The article gives tables that contain the various rules and bet spreads you might try at a table, and, from the simulation, gives the expected hourly return at the different tables. I highly recommend picking this book up as there is a myriad of helpful information in it, not just the SCORE tables.

  5. #5


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    Quote Originally Posted by stopgambling View Post
    i would say keep learning and don't put your bankroll at risk with Bj only especially if you are under funded and the cost of travelling would not give a a decent shot at winning. i would say overall you got lucky and didn't get crush . You definitely should keep learning more before any play.
    Thanks for the feedback @stopgambling.

    Yes I agree with you. I am always willing to learn and learning has no end. I still practice til this day, pretty much everyday for a few hours to ensure my speed and sharpness of the game. I know my bankroll and casino conditions is an issue but in terms of how many hours would you say until someone is ready? Better yet could you describe someone who is ready based on test results such as emulating a shoe game? For example how fast the person can play a shoe game, the correct bet and plays according to the count, checking/verifying to see if you have an accurate count from beginning to end. How and what do you base it on?

    Thanks!

  6. #6


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    Quote Originally Posted by xrxq View Post
    'Standardized Comparison Of Risk and Expectation' is what you are looking for, or 'SCORE' for short.

    This is covered in chapter 9 of Blackjack Attack 3 by Don Schlesinger (who posts here regularly, in fact).

    The article gives tables that contain the various rules and bet spreads you might try at a table, and, from the simulation, gives the expected hourly return at the different tables. I highly recommend picking this book up as there is a myriad of helpful information in it, not just the SCORE tables.
    @xrxq thanks for this tip. I will definitely revisit this chapter

  7. #7


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    It looks like the OP has committed to playing BJ full time, has already put in hours and hours of practice. This makes me sad. Somewhere, he bought into the BJ Dream, it appears.

    Game selectivity comprising of penetration, number of players and money management/bank roll are far more important than the rules you are quibbling about. It’s more important to make decisions on bank roll, bet spread and your comfort level with those.

    Its probably too late but I suggest, at least for the first few years, to consider BJ as a minor, secondary source of income and concentrate on another career.

  8. #8
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    From the Blackjack Insiders:

    "Mark had told me of unusually long losing streaks that crushed Card Counter's souls and sent them back to their 9-5 grinds."

    I myself got way luckier than I should have my first few card counting trips, and then reality set in with two losing trips in a row. I'm still ahead, but not by much considering I've probably clocked 50+ hours of casino play by now.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by LugiaLvl138 View Post
    From the Blackjack Insiders:

    "Mark had told me of unusually long losing streaks that crushed Card Counter's souls and sent them back to their 9-5 grinds."

    I myself got way luckier than I should have my first few card counting trips, and then reality set in with two losing trips in a row. I'm still ahead, but not by much considering I've probably clocked 50+ hours of casino play by now.
    "I'd rather be lucky than good." - Lefty Gomez

    https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/lefty_gomez_139632

  10. #10


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    Quote Originally Posted by Ultramood View Post
    Thanks for the feedback @stopgambling.

    Yes I agree with you. I am always willing to learn and learning has no end. I still practice til this day, pretty much everyday for a few hours to ensure my speed and sharpness of the game. I know my bankroll and casino conditions is an issue but in terms of how many hours would you say until someone is ready? Better yet could you describe someone who is ready based on test results such as emulating a shoe game? For example how fast the person can play a shoe game, the correct bet and plays according to the count, checking/verifying to see if you have an accurate count from beginning to end. How and what do you base it on?

    Thanks!
    Please read beyond my words ..... Learn as to learn what makes an AP ... Read lots of Pro's opinion and advices. Sorry i ain't gonna elaborate. I don't care how fast or how great you are if you can't play or there are no stores near you and expenses will eat you alive.

  11. #11


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    Losing for over 200 hours straight as a pro card counter is not uncommon. You’ll have to mentally prepare yourself and your Br for this. It happens to the best. Sounds like you did quite well!

    Keep preparing for your next session...If someone says you need more practice here, it is most likely, true. You’ll be surprised when your preparation pays off with Higher ev returns/moves.

    As we say here, best of positive variance (luck).
    Brick

    I’ll tell you this...I am very happy I expanded my game beyond card counting. Like Poker, and Sports Betting, I’m decent at. You’d be surprised at what other games are beatable. If you like to learn. Like whoa.

  12. #12


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    “Losing for over 200 hours straight as a pro card counter is not uncommon“. That is a ridiculous cliche. In all the years on this forum, I have never read of that long a streak. 200 hours STRAIGHT?

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ultramood View Post

    1) So what rules is a MUST HAVE in order to play and is a WINNABLE game? What to look for?

    Before COVID-19 (I have not been to a casino since January), my "musts" were:
    1. No CSM.
    2. No 6:5 payout.
    3. No more than 6 decks.
    4. No more than 2 other players at the table.
    5. No play all hands/counts. Either backcount and Wong In/Out, or (if you play at the start of a shoe) use ODPs and Wong Out. If backcounting and you hit an ODP, move along. BJA III provides excellent information on these topics.

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